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Midway Arcade
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Graphics & Sound:
It's been ages since I even walked into a real arcade, and I think I'm like most people. Let's face it: The huge arcades, like the age of huge reptiles (that's the Jurassic and Cretaceous for those of you taking close notes) are largely extinct. Some relics persist, but there was a time when arcades were almost as easy to find as your neighborhood 7-11 store. Midway Arcade for iPad attempts to bring back the feel of that period. Nostalgia doesn't come better than this, honestly. The game simulates walking through an actual (two-story, no less) arcade, trimmed with posters advertising games, a prize counter, and even ambient sounds of games being played around you. We'll quibble a bit with the volume setting of the ambient sound; our memory of arcades is that they were deafening. Not only were most games maxed out on volume, but the shrieking of kids who had either won or lost their recent game was always spiking beyond what would be considered safe decibel levels.
The in-game experience looks true and good. Games are presented in their natural portrait format, with options to control using a variety of joysticks, fixed or freely placed. The interface is minimal and gets out of your way, letting you soak up the goodness of games like Spy Hunter and Defender. The graphics aren't so polished that this feels like 80s arcade remixed. Midway Arcade is a nice homage to the arcade setting of my youth, with all the visuals and sounds appropriately placed. For younger gamers all the attention to detail may be lost, but judging by my youngster's attraction to this game at age 8, I think there's still some magic in them there arcades... |
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Gameplay:
Compared to past investments we've made in classic arcade titles, spending $.99 for a collection of six good games is ludicrously cheap. Considering there are another six games available as an in-app purchase (IAP) for only two more dollars, you've got a potential $3 investment that will net you 12 of the most memorable Midway titles in history. Included on the initial $.99 list are Arch Rivals, Defender, Joust, Rampage, Root Beer Tapper, and Spy Hunter. In addition to these, you can play on a "real" air hockey table, shoot pool, chuck basketballs, and throw a Skee-Ball (titled "Roll Ball" here, likely for copyright reasons). Spend another couple bucks and you can add APB, the Gauntlet series, NARC, Total Carnage, and Wizard of Wor. All told, it's just a massive amount of retro cool, and Midway Arcade doesn't have to stop there. The two IAP packs are presented in such a way that it looks like there's room for expansion, and Midway certainly isn't in danger of running out of classic games.
Since a big part of arcade gaming was competition for score, we were a little disappointed to see that high scores aren't loaded into each game, but are instead presented through Apple's Game Center. It's all fine and well to cruise through the Game Center looking at high scores and where I rank in each game, but Midway Arcade would have been much cooler if they had worked out a way to show all scores in the familiar game interface. The achievements are disappointing for the same reason. They reward players for starting a game, and winning prizes in the app, but how cool would it be to bolt on an achievement system for actions in a game like Rampage? "Got The Munchies: Ate 50 Soldiers" or something along those lines... The replay value proposition is really no different than it has been traditionally in arcade revival collections. We liked the dynamic of winning tickets (very authentic) and earning prizes, but there's no bigger payoff at some point, so you're only coming back to play the games you played to death decades ago. These issues are why I find the "remix" and reboot trend more exciting, but Midway Arcade will make a lot of arcade fundamentalists very happy. |
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Difficulty:
It's a bit obvious to talk about how difficult old games are compared to the new crop, and I suspect younger people detect a bit of "Get off my lawn!" when 30-somethings or 40-somethings preach on this topic. So, we'll avoid the stereotype and point out nothing more than how nice it is to have unlimited replays. You'll need them... The funny thing is that we can remember crushing Spy Hunter back on the Commodore-64, to the point that it felt like we were playing the game on autopilot. It's hard to imagine that decades later, as we fired up Spy Hunter on Midway Arcade. In some instances, games like billiards, air hockey, and "Roll Ball" are much easier here because the physical demands are dramatically reduced. These are especially nice for younger players who won't be able to do much in the classic Midway Arcade titles. Perhaps you can have a little one pound on a virtual button while you control the ship in Defender, but if you buy this app thinking it will be a great way to introduce your Tween to retro gaming, be aware of the steep learning curve. It's unfortunate that at least one of the games included in the "Fantasy Game Pack" like Gauntlet and Wizard of Wor wasn't included with the $.99 purchase, to offer more counterpoint to twitchy games that most players will play for a minute or two before crashing and burning. Oh well, retro games are kind of like that; either you are willing to put in the time to master them, or you're a masochist...
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Game Mechanics:
Placement and behavior of the joystick can make a big difference, as mentioned earlier. I've never fallen in love with the virtual joystick, and Midway Arcade didn't change my mind. People playing with mocked-up cabinets are always going to be happier than people using touch controls to simulate an analog device. We prefer the fixed placement, where you can lock your thumb or finger into a certain geography and know you'll get N-S-E-W as expected, but others may appreciate the freedom of being able to tap anywhere and have control. Another interesting dimension of the non-electronic games is how they use more of the touch-controls. We liked the variety of moving from virtual analog buttons in Arch Rivals to pinch-to-zoom, and swipe controls in billiards and "Roll Ball." It's a small thing, but it would have been cooler if you could also swipe your way through the entire virtual arcade. We suspect the trade-off was around having the ability to swipe and move the camera while viewing each arcade cabinet. The arrows to toggle between cabinets are a bit ugly and out of place, but in exchange you can ogle each cabinet from (almost) a 360-degree perspective.
In short, this is retro gamer's dream. It has more polish and atmosphere than almost any other retro collection on the iPad, and as long as you're down with these titles, it offers good replay value. The extended offering is good, and we suspect most players will just spring for the whole enchilada right off the bat. We're excited to see other add-on packs that pull from the long list of Midway Arcade classics, which will only increase the value of this app. |
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-Fridtjof, GameVortex Communications AKA Matt Paddock |
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